Last Days in Paris - July 9, 2010

 Senne's Summary: We went to Ste. Chapelle today (look at the pictures, it was amazing) and head to Aix on the train tomorrow! We like Paris, and will be back!

Friday July 9, 2010

Well we've reached our last full day in Paris. We managed to wake up by 10:00 this morning… it’s getting a little earlier anyway :) We did a bit more laundry, had a pain au chocolat and tried out our travel backgammon game while we waited for our laundry. (It didn’t work very well because Steve won… we all know the rule when I don’t win… say it with me… "If Lisa loses, we play again!")

This afternoon we went to see Ste. Chapelle. Even though part of it was under scaffolding because it is under restoration this is a breath-taking building. The stained glass windows, which are about 800 years old are simply amazing. You can’t really capture it in the photos (as usual) but there are 15 giant windows basically surrounding the entire upper chamber. Once again, you need to see it in person.

  

Then we had an adventure in our room trying to use the microwave to reheat our leftover pizza. Thank goodness Steve is more persistent than me or we would have been eating cold pizza. Who knew using a microwave could be so complicated???

In the evening we met a teaching friend from James Bay, Pat and her husband Charlie. We went down to the river and shared a bottle of wine, some bread and cheese and a little bit of Swiss chocolate (thanks Carey :)). It’s kind of strange that we’re all the way in Paris and we’ve already seen two people we know from Victoria. Anyone else up for a visit??!! Tonight we are going to pack up our backpacks so that tomorrow we can take our train ride (first train ride!!!) to Aix en Provence. (We’ll probably need one last Berthillon Ice Cream too… I hope they have Vanilla tonight!) We don’t have internet in our apartment in Aix so you might not hear from us as regularly.

General Impressions of Paris and things we learned this week:

• We will definitely come back… but probably not on this adventure… so many places, so little time.
• When we come back I want to see the Opera House, Versailles and Sacre Couer for sure.
• The architecture/buildings are simply amazing. Probably our favourite part of Paris. To try to comprehend that some of these buildings were built up to 600 years ago and are still standing in original condition is simply amazing and reaffirms that nowadays the stuff we build is crap in comparison.
• Parisians are not rude. Everyone has been very polite. They operate in a totally different way… it’s not rude… it’s just different.
• Paris doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many places where you can grab a sandwich or a pastry from the bakery and just sit in a park to eat.
• Wine is cheap… grab a good bottle for 5 Euros and go sit by the Seine to enjoy the scenery.
• You can walk everywhere. Just walking in Paris can be your entertainment… there are so many things to see. Better yet get a Batobus pass so you can enjoy Paris from the river and then walk back so you can enjoy Paris up on land.
•  All the ice cream we tried was great, but Berthillon ice cream is worth the extra euros. Get Vanilla. (Trust me)
•  Everyone told us they liked the Musee D’Orsay way better than the Louvre. We liked the Louvre better. To each his own.

We wouldn’t choose to live here, but Paris is a great place to visit, and we’ll definitely be back.